Sunday at Glastonbury 2013: the news round-up

Glastonbury 2013 has come to a close, with artists including Mumford and Sons, The xx, Bobby Womack, Public Image Ltd. and Vampire Weekend having performed.

Mumford and Sons closed the Pyramid Stage with a headline set that saw guest appearances from The Vaccines, Vampire Weekend, The Staves and First Aid Kit. Read the full report here.

Bobby Womack headlined West Holts, coming onstage at 9.30pm with Blur‘s Damon Albarn on piano. Sitting on a stall at the centre of the stage, he dedicated the title track of his acclaimed 2012 album, ‘The Bravest Man In The Universe’, to his “main man” Albarn, who helped produce it. “Bobby look how many people have come to see you man!” Albarn said before they launched into ‘Stupid’, closing the first half of the set with ‘Love Is Gonna Lift You Up’.

“We ain’t done yet!” Womack told the crowd as they left the stage. After 20 minutes, and much stage shuffling later, Womack returned with his band dressed in a red leather suit. He then played a string of hits from his back catalogue, including ‘Across 110th Street’, ‘Nobody Wants You When You’re Down And Out’ and ‘If You Can’t Give Her Love, Give Her Up’, before reluctantly leaving the stage at 11pm, when the curfew was reached.

Earlier, Tyler, The Creator‘s Glastonbury debut went ahead without Earl Sweatshirt, his fellow OFWGKTA bandmate, who was forced to pull out following a bout of pneumonia. Tyler, sporting an FC Barcelona top, seemed subdued throughout, and the crowd gradually thinned as the headliners approached. Regardless, the front rows of the tent were delighted to hear ‘We Got Bitches’ and ‘Yonkers’.

On the Other Stage, Smashing Pumpkins played a set that struck a balance between tracks from latest ‘Oceania’, a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ and a selection of the band’s classic hits. The latter included ‘Disarm’, ‘Tonight, Tonight’, ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ and ‘Today’.

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds took to the Pyramid Stage at 5.45pm, starting off with the opening track to their recently released album ‘Push The Sky Away’, followed by ‘We No Who U R’ and ‘Jubilee Street’. The band also played tracks from across their fifteen album strong back catalogue including ‘From Her To Eternity’, ‘Deanna’ and ‘Tupelo’ as rainclouds came over the stage. Later on in the set, Cave sat down at his piano for the tender ballad People Ain’t No Good’ before ‘The Mercy Seat’. For the penultimate track, ‘Stagger Lee’, Cave jumped up on the barrier, gyrating his crotch in front of fans in the front row, before set-closer ‘Push The Sky Away’.

Earlier in the eveninng, Vampire Weekend made a triumphant return to the Pyramid Stage in front of a large crowd that crept all the way up the top of the hill. The New Yorkers, who last played the festival in 2010, walked on to a colourful floral wallpaper backdrop and got things underway with their 2009 single ‘Cousins’. The setlist was balanced between the band’s three albums, and new single ‘Diane Young’ proved an early highlight of the hour-long set. By far the biggest cheers, however, were reserved for the likes of ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’ and ‘Oxford Comma’. After a well-received ‘A-Punk’, ‘Walcott’ brought things to a close. Koenig promised the crowd “we will see you in the future”.

On the John Peel stage, Jessie Ware came onstage just after 5.45pm and begun with her album title track ‘Devotion’. “I’m so excited to be here, thank you so much for being here and not going home yet!” she shrieked before ‘Still Love Me’. “This is me being adventurous,” she said as she climbed down to the front of the stage. “I once saw Florence Welch climb up that pole. That’s not going to happen today!”

Ware then reminisced about the last time she was on the John Peel stage before ‘Sweet Talk’: “I played this stage with one of my best mates, Jack Penate, when I was a backing singer,” she said. “It made me realise that all I wanted to be was a singer. And look where we are now!” She then brought on SBTRKT’s Sampha to duet on the track ‘Valentine’. “I’ve had to be so well behaved this weekend, and that’s not the way I do Glastonbury so I’ll see you at the Stone Circle tonight,” she told the crowd, before introducing the Julio Bashmore-produced ‘Imagine It Was Us’. ‘Who Says No To Love’ was up next, before set closers ‘Wildest Moments’ and ‘Running’.

Public Image Ltd. proved a popular draw on the Other Stage, with John Lydon’s post-punk group turning in an impressive mid-afternoon set. Opening with ‘This is Not a Love Song’, Lydon – wearing a woolen poncho and a pair of garishly-checked trousers – seemed quieter than usual, refraining from making any outbursts and keeping stage chat to a minimum. The setlist for the band’s 50-minute slot focused mainly on their greatest hits, with ‘Rise’ and ‘Public Image’ both predictable highlights. The newer material from the band’s 2012 album ‘This Is PiL’ perhaps fared less well. The set ended with ‘Open Up’, Lydon’s 1993 collaboration with Leftfield.

The Pyramid Stage’s new resident – a mechanical phoenix on top of the structure – spread its wings again for country singer Kenny Rogers, the act Michael Eavis said he was looking forward to most after the Stones yesterday. Playing hits including ‘She’s A Mystery’ and ‘Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town’, a beaming Rogers asked the crowd to sing lines in the latter, but the audience’s effort left him underwhelmed. “This is the worst any group has ever sung that!” he said, after. “They sung it better in Morocco and they don’t even speak English in Morocco!” Rogers went on to play an easy listening set including ‘Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In)’ and ‘Lucille’ and a closing ‘Islands In The Stream’.

Deap Vally’s appearance on the John Peel tent was briefly delayed by an impromptu bit of karaoke in honour of the stage manager’s 60th birthday, but the L.A garage-rock duo soon arrived to enliven a crowd largely suffering from the night before. “Wake the fuck up, Glastonbury!” sang Lindsey Troy on opener ‘End of the World’, before joking, “I’m amazed that you got out of your tents. I’m very impressed.” The band played a short selection of tracks from their debut album ‘Sistrionix’ – which is released tomorrow (July 1) – and were also joined by their backing singers, the Giddi Mammas, for ‘Raw Material’ and ‘Six Feet Under’, before drummer Julie Edwards bid the crowd farewell by saying “I hope you’re not all exhausted from your weekends… I know we are!”

The xx played a secret warm-up show at the BBC Introducing stage ahead of their scheduled headline slot tonight on the Other Stage. Crowds spilled out of the tent as the trio played just two tracks – ‘Chained’ and ‘Fiction’ from their 2012 album ‘Coexist’.

The View disappointed fans gathered to see them at the William’s Green stage at 1pm by cancelling at the last minute. The crowd booed when an announcement was made that the band would not be performing due to illness. Yesterday they played Hard Rock Calling at the Olympic Park in London alongside Kasabian, Miles Kane, The Cribs, Klaxons and Tribes.

First Aid Kit kicked off the last day of Glastonbury Festival with an early afternoon set on the Pyramid Stage. The Swedish folk sisters performed new songs as well as covers of Bob Dylan’s ‘One More Cup Of Coffee’ and ‘America’ by Simon & Garfunkel. Early on in the set the pair played new track ‘Waitress Song’, which singer Klara Söderberg told the audience was about “escaping and starting a new life”. Dedicating their set to US intelligence whistle-blowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden and imprisoned Russian punks Pussy Riot, they also performed tracks from their latest album ‘The Lion’s Roar’, including the album’s title track and ‘Emmylou’. The latter saw Söderberg play the riff from The White Stripes’ ‘Seven Nation Army’ on her keyboard as the song ended.

Meanwhile, legendary entertainer Bruce Forsyth pulled such a huge crowd to his performance that the Avalon Field had to be closed off.

For all the latest news, blogs and galleries from the festival, check out our Glastonbury page.

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